history of the foundation

The Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation was established in 1953 by an initial $100,000 gift from Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. The Foundation really came into being upon the receipt of his $1,000,000 bequest in 1967 ($6.5 million in inflation adjusted dollars). While exercising its philanthropic mission, and without additional fund raising, the Foundation grew to a maximum size of nearly $60 million. Since its founding, except for the transient participation of Dr. Mallinckrodt’s youngest son, George, the Foundation has been guided by a disinterested volunteer board, initially led by Dr. Shields Warren, of Boston, and consistently served by Mr. Oliver Langenberg, its longtime Chair. With this leadership over the years, a small band of volunteers has shepherded Edward Mallinckrodt’s legacy by tending to the foundation’s investments and allocating its biomedical grants and awards.

Oliver M. Langenberg, having devoted himself to the Foundation from its inception, manifested his enormous commitment to its mission by leaving the Foundation an unrestricted bequest of $10 million dollars upon his death, at the age of 99, in the spring of 2012.
Mr. Langenberg had an exceptional and long career as a financial advisor. Advising clients up to the time of his death, he was a man who was characterized as being able to "see around corners." He was charged with creating and maintaining wealth for his clients and was himself a great philanthropist.